


What If It's You

by sparkinside (boomersoonerash)



Series: 25 Days of Ficmas [23]
Category: Hanson (Band), The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: 25 Days of Fic-mas, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Zombie Apocalypse, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Diners, Established Relationship, F/M, Love, Modern Era, NaNoWriMo 2017, No Smut, Past Relationship(s), Summer Love, Tattoos, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-18 22:37:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13109940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boomersoonerash/pseuds/sparkinside
Summary: Avery knows she should be happy that Beth is marrying Daryl but it's hard when she had Daryl first.





	What If It's You

**Author's Note:**

> Day 23 of 25  
> Prompt: Upside Down

Looking at the upside down picture, Avery moved to fix it on the wall as she did her best not to think about what today was.

Not to remember that her best friend Beth was getting married to Daryl, a man who Avery wasn't sure Beth should marry.

If Beth knew who Daryl had once been to Avery then maybe she wouldn't be marrying him but of course Beth didn't know. Beth would never know because Avery would never tell her and she doubted Daryl would either.

Why would he want his new bride knowing about the summer fling he had with her best friend? He wouldn't and so Beth would just remain clueless.

She would never know that her husband was the man that Avery had coyly referred to as the archer who made her feel such amazing things. The archer who had taken her virginity.

The man she had gotten a tattoo in honor of when she had come back home. A tiny arrow tattoo on her wrist.

Something to always remember him by.

If only she had known that one day somehow the world would decide her best friend needed to meet this man. Needed to marry this man. When Avery had come in for the wedding that Beth had asked her to be bridesmaid for, she had gotten what felt like the shock of her life.

She saw a man who she swore was the one who got away. Her missed chance at true love and happiness.

"Avery?" Beth asked and Avery turned to face Beth who was with her in the backroom of the church. Both of them dressed and ready for Beth's big day. "Are you okay?" she asked and Avery looked around the room.

Looking to see if any other woman in the room could help her. Get her out of this but, as her eyes landed on Beth's mother Annette and Beth's sister Maggie she knew they couldn't.

So she forced a smile, "I'm fine," she told her friend but she knew from the look that Beth gave her that she saw through her lie.

A part of her hoped that Beth didn't dig too deep. That she didn't want too much information from Avery because at this rate as awful as Avery was feeling she'd probably tell Beth everything despite the deep urge not to.

"Are you sure?" Beth asked and Avery hated that her friend obviously wanted to keep digging. That she wanted her own wedding day to be ruined by what Avery was going to say.

Avery swallowed hard as she kept her forced smile but instead of saying anything she bolted from the room she was in. She knew that it would cause a commotion but she didn't care. She just took off running as if she was a bride running from her own wedding day.

She wasn't though, she was just a bridesmaid running from her friend’s wedding day.

Making it out of the church, Avery kept running. Not even sure where she was going or how crazy she probably looked right now.

All she knew though was she needed to get away from the church. She needed to get away from Beth and Daryl and maybe, hopefully, they could get married without her. Get married despite the stunt that she had just pulled that she knew Beth's family would be talking about for days maybe even months to come.

Because who in their right mind ran off during someone's wedding day when they were supposed to be a bridesmaid?

***

"You okay?" a voice asked Avery and Avery looked up almost sullenly at the woman who was her waitress at the diner where she had come after running from the church.

Avery hated that the waitress was asking her if she was okay but she had been here for two hours and had only ordered two waters. She had also started crying off and on as she drank her last water so she was sure she looked a mess and she was sure she couldn't blame Carol, as her name tag read, for asking if she was.

If Avery was in Carol's shoes she'd be asking herself the same thing.

"No, not really," Avery admitted knowing she may as well be honest. She was a damn crying mess in a diner. The least she owed the waitress serving her was honesty. "Can I just get another water please?"

Carol let out a laugh, "I think what you need is something stronger but since we don't have that here, another water it is," she told her before turning to leave and after she had left Avery only sighed before leaning her head against the table.

Fresh tears going down her cheek after she had done so.

"You know, it's not polite to cry in diners," another voice spoke this one much more gruff than Carol's and Avery lifted her head. Her eyebrow arching when she saw Daryl standing in front of her.

His presence here surprised her because he should be at the church or the reception hall one. He should be celebrating his new life with Beth.

"When have I ever cared about what was polite?" Avery asked him honestly as she watched him sit down across from her. "I mean it's not polite to run out on someone's wedding day but I did that too."

Daryl smirked some at her words, "You did and I had to come looking for your ass," he told her which made her blush. "Spent two hours looking for you before I realized you'd be here."

"Of course I'd be here," Avery told him with a small smile. This place was usually her go to place when things went to shit and she had told him that the summer they had their fling. "Just surprised you remembered that."

"I remember a lot of things Avie," Daryl revealed and his words made Avery pause because she wasn't sure he had. It wasn't like they had talked much in the few weeks leading up to the wedding and whenever they had, Beth was always there. "Now are you going to tell me why you ran?" he asked her.

To Avery his question sounded more like a statement. Like he knew why she ran but he wanted her to confirm it for him.

Heaving a sigh Avery raised an eyebrow as she eyed Daryl, wondering if she should tell him the truth or lie. But if she lied she had a feeling he'd just see through it.

He knew her so well or had used to during their brief summer fling.

"Because I couldn't watch you marry Beth and pretend to be happy about it," Avery offered as she frowned once more. "Not when I still love you and think you could be the one for me," she sighed hating how awful her words made her.

That she really felt that way about her friend's man but he had been hers long before he had been Beth's.

Nodding his head Daryl looked down at his hands. Hands that Avery too looked at, noticing that there was no ring on his finger yet. Which meant the wedding hadn't happened.

"I didn't marry her," Daryl spoke up as he finally looked back at Avery. "I couldn't when I knew you ran and neither could she. She was so beside herself and she kept asking why. I had my feelings on why and so I told her. I told her everything about how we...how we knew each other before and things seemed to click for Beth," he said as his voice went low.

Avery wondered if Beth had been a mess once she knew.

"She told me to come after you," Daryl sighed as he shook his head. "Said I should get the woman I'm destined to be with."

"But she loves you," Avery told him knowing Beth was gone for Daryl. She looked at him the way Avery had done during their summer together. She had seen as much every time they were all together. "She'd be crazy to give you up like that."

Daryl let out a small laugh, "Well then I guess Elizabeth Greene is certifiable because she let me go. Gave up her own happiness for you," he said and Avery couldn't help but feel guilty at his words.

She hadn't wanted that to happen even if she still did love Daryl and even if this whole thing was killing her enough that she ran out of the church.

"So what do we do now then?" Avery questioned him wondering if he wanted her too or if he had just come to find her to tell her what had happened.

If he loved her still despite everything or if he wanted to go back to Beth.

Before he could reply back Carol brought her third water over. Which gave them a bit of a distraction before he answered. Something Avery was thankful for since she wasn't sure she was ready to face what he had to say.

She felt afraid he wouldn't want her when, in the end, all she knew was she was sure he could be the one for her. Yet he held all the cards in his hands and he may have felt differently.

May not have wanted her back.

When Daryl sighed though Avery just looked at him curiously. "I'd like to give us a chance," he told her and his words made Avery smile as well as made her feel as if a weight had been taken off her shoulders.

Just knowing Daryl wanted to try was enough for her.

Even if she hated that Beth was getting hurt in this situation. But Beth was the one who had chosen to let Daryl go so he could be with Avery.

She had sacrificed her own happiness for Avery's sake because she was just good and sweet like that.


End file.
